QMI Agency

Rail service on routes connecting Toronto with Ottawa and Montreal "will gradually return to normal" following the end of an Idle No More native blockade, Via Rail announced Sunday.

"On Saturday, a First Nations' railroad blockade in the Marysville area near Kingston caused delays and inconvenienced more than 1,000 Via Rail passengers," the company said in a statement. "Four Via Rail trains had to stop travelling as a result of the protest. Delays ranging between one to two hours were experienced by Via Rail customers travelling once the blockade was put in place."

Via said it does not anticipate any significant delays Sunday as a result of yesterday's event.

VIA had arranged for buses to pick up passengers heading east at Belleville station and shepherd them around the blockade to trains waiting on the other side.

VIA spokesman Jacques Gagnon told QMI Agency Saturday his company is "committed to ensuring all our passengers get to their destination as soon as possible" adding passengers "will reach their destination tonight."

The OPP said that "at last check" the protest was peaceful..

Saturday's blockade was the latest rail disruption in the past month by members of the Idle No More movement.

Protesters blocked a Canadian National Railway line in Sarnia, Ont., for about two weeks until Wednesday, and there were shorter blockades elsewhere in the country, including one that delayed passenger trains between Montreal and Toronto for several hours last Sunday.